The public is being urged to support Daffodil Day as the sun is beaming down for the first face to face Daffodil Day for the Irish Cancer Society in over three years.
The Irish Cancer Society is a vital community of patients, survivors, volunteers, supporters, health and social care professionals and researchers.
Communities and volunteers across Ireland will turn daffodil yellow on Friday as they take to the streets to raise funds and give support to thousands of cancer patients and their families.
The charity’s flagship fundraiser traditionally sees thousands turn out across the country to fundraise and sell the iconic daffodil pins, but this year there will be fewer people on the streets due to the impact of the current Covid-19 situation on volunteer numbers.
Covid-19 has impacted the delivery of cancer screening and diagnostics services since March 2020 in an area that was already fragile and lacking funding.
A report “Cancer Services in Ireland in the context of Covid-19” looked at the impact of Covid-19 on crucial cancer services across the country.
The three National Cancer Screening Service programmes, BreastCheck, Cervical Check, and Bowel Screen, paused screening invitations in March 2020 due to Covid19 which left a devastating impact on patients attending their screenings and resulted in late diagnosis for some patients.
CervicalCheck began a phased approach to resuming screenings on 6th July 2021, with CervicalCheck estimating all ‘paused’ screening invitation letters were expected to have been sent by December 2020, and all people due to attend a screening test in 2020 should have been invited by mid-2021.
Figures show that the pausing of screening, due to Covid-19, resulted in more than 99,000 screening invitations being delayed.
Last year, over 320,000 tests were completed by Cervical Check.
While the number of GP referrals to cancer rapid access clinics in 2021 was 30% higher than in 2019, the number of people undergoing surgical oncology was 20% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
As reported by The Irish Examiner, Paul Gordon, policy and public affairs manager with the Irish Cancer Society, said that the figures highlight the challenges being faced for those needing cancer treatment.
He said: “We know that up to 14 per cent less cancer cases were diagnosed in 2020, so it is absolutely essential that our health services are properly resourced to deal with extra demand from those not diagnosed in 2020 and 2021 as we move out of the emergency phase of the pandemic,” Mr Gordon said.
“The Irish Cancer Society has for some time been highlighting the need to bolster cancer services in preparation for a ‘catch-up’ trend for patients whose diagnosis may be delayed due to the pandemic, and these figures highlight the challenges this is posing for cancer treatment in particular.”
Mr Gordon continuously campaigns and urges the government to put appropriate funding in place, to fund and enable access to cancer services,
Last December an NCRI report showed that as many as 1 in 8 cancers that were predicted to be diagnosed in 2020 were not.
Although there was an uptake in those seeking medical help, waiting times for diagnostic tests remain way too long and these must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
Speaking in response to the National Cancer Registry Ireland (NCRI) annual report, the Irish Cancer Society’s CEO Averil Power said: “While it is heartening to hear that progress is being made for devastating cancers like breast, lung and prostate according to latest figures up to 2019, we are very worried that significantly fewer cancers were diagnosed last year.”
“This will present a major challenge for years to come and is, unfortunately, no surprise as already struggling cancer services have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic. Lengthy waiting lists and disruptions to vital diagnostic and screening services are now all too commonplace.”
“Patients are telling us that they are terrified of having their treatment delayed given the current spike in Covid case numbers and are very distressed about the worrying consequences to their health from catching the virus, and the further risk of treatment delays that this would bring.”
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